Usuakari, ShinYa, Agekata
by Yu-lin
Summary: Sasuke's back in Konoha, and everyone seems to think he'll actually stay. Will he? NaruSasu, SasuNaru. Chapter 6 up finally
1. Chapter 1

Hello there, people.

Disclaimer: Hehehehe. Nope, not mine. But someday.. -cough- anyway, I don't own Naruto. I only own a muffin.

You can see this story kind of as an AU, but you don't have to because it is the Naruto Universe, but it doesn't follow the current Naruto timeline. Because, after three months or so, I finally finished thinking up this story and then stupid Sai jumped in and ruined my perfect timespan. By the way, I made one REALLY big mistake in this chapter, a mistake that is too big to cover up or to remove. I wonder I you're able to find it. And, this is only the introducing chapter, after this it'll be.. normal.. Ok? I have to go to school now, bye XD

WARNING people: this story is going to be Naruto/Sasuke. So if you don't like it, or you think it's under-aged-hentai-gayness, then please go away ..

Please flame if you want to. I can take it. But not, I repeat NOT about the pairing. I've warned you, and if you think it's disgusting/old-fashioned/gross/over-used or not readable in any other way, go complain somewhere else. You can flame about my writing style, though, but that won't help me get any better. So, PLEASE, if you have tips for me, say it.

* * *

He was able to see him from here; the bastard was casually leaning against a tree, with his eyes closed. He stood at the right angle, so if he aimed well, then maybe he could hit him as from here, to signal the beginning of the battle. Sasuke grabbed a kunai from his pocket, silently aimed, then threw it. But, before it could even come close to Itachi, said target threw a kunai of his own, which flew straight through the hole in the other, then pinned it to a tree with a dull thwack. 

"Well well.." Itachi turned around from his spot against the tree and faced the trees Sasuke was hidden in.

"What do we have here? Is this a way to greet someone, little brother?" he opened his eyes and his gaze pierced straight through Sasuke, even through all the branches.

This wasn't good. One: Itachi had sensed him from miles away and two: they were only reunited for a minute or so, and Itachi had made Sasuke's blood boil already. Seeing this was what they'd expected, he first attempted to calm himself down. He had trained himself for this.

Once he'd collected himself, he swiftly jumped out of the tree, leaves and twigs rustling behind him. He made an almost perfect copy of his older brother, hair in front of his eyes somewhat loosened en lowered down, while the backside was tied in a low ponytail. The only difference was their eyes. The older ones were cold and quiet, the younger ones were already spinning and blazing fire.

"Well, still as enthusiastic as ever, I see?" Itachi smirked. And with that, the battle had finally started.

_Yes, brother, _Sasuke thought. _But tonight, I'm going to beat you. No matter what._

Ram, Boar, Horse, Tiger. The four hand seals Sasuke made were almost unable to see. He puffed his cheeks before saying: "Katon: Gokaryuu no Jutsu!" and spitting the fire.

Itachi had seen that coming of course, since it had been a very common move among the Uchiha Clan. He dodged it, disappeared, and then reappeared behind Sasuke, who quickly turned around. He tried to deliver him a punch in the stomach but Itachi moved around and gave him a kick against his chin.

While Sasuke wiped away the blood on he side of his mouth, the curse seal was starting to appear. Soon, he would reach stage two of it. In the past 3 years he had learned how to take control of it, and now, he could decide whether it would show up or not.

Itachi loosened his Akatsuki coat and threw it to the ground. Sasuke jumped onto the nearest tree branch that would hold him, and swiftly threw 2 shuriken and a kunai. Onto the shuriken, there were Sharingan threads attached. Itachi watched with amusement, before jumping away before the thin lines could reach him. The 3 weapons landed in a tree behind him.

Sasuke smirked when Itachi made a move to climb the tree also, but before he could, Sasuke had already landed on the ground, and their fight started again, from the beginning. It was different from the fights he'd had with Naruto, because in this case, he couldn't predict his opponent's movements, and even if he could, he wouldn't be able to dodge them. Could it be Itachi could not be beaten?

He knew he should be concentrating on the fight, and that fact was confirmed when he received a real hard kick. He got thrown into the ground, and was harshly shoved against a rock. He quickly recovered, and swung his leg, aimed at his brother's neck. Itachi leant back and stuck out his right hand. He made a clean, backward handstand to dodge it.

It was very hard for Sasuke to fight his brother without looking into his eyes, but he had no intentions of spending a day in the Tsukiyomi. He felt his chakra-flow get irregular, and decided it was time for stage 2 of the curse seal.

His eyes became black with the blood red still in it., and he felt his chakra double, although his stamina was being cut in half. His speed increased two times, and with that, he was equal to Itachi.

"My, my, can't little Sasuke-kun beat his brother on his own? Does he need a filthy snake to help him?" Itachi, asked, a smug expression on his face. He had Sasuke right where he wanted him.

The younger Uchiha quickly took the opportunity to grab another knife from his pocket, and stepped forward. He aimed, but he was sloppy, so he only managed to gash his older brother's left cheekbone. A clean, straight cut.

Itachi raised his hand and wiped the upcoming blood away, before looking at his bloodied fingers, and gracefully licked them clean.

Sasuke got kicked in his side, and flew against a tree trunk. With a poof, he changed into a log. Then the real Sasuke jumped out of the tree and approached Itachi (who was pretending to be dumbfounded and was staring at the place where the log Sasuke had been) from behind. He moved his hand quickly over the other, and created a blue-ish kind of light. Itachi turned around and chuckled evilly.

"Chidori!" Sasuke yelled and thrust his hand in Itachi's shoulder. Suddenly he noticed the kunai he had thrown earlier was gone, and that could mean only one thing: genjutsu.

The world around him started to spin, and it slowly morphed into the same landscape he had been in, only without the weapons he had thrown. And without an injured Itachi. Did this mean..? Did this mean he hadn't been able to hit Itachi at all? Did this mean.. he had walked straight into his trap?

This was IT! He wiped the blood from his earlier cuts and made a red streak on his right forearm.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

An enormous snake appeared in front of Itachi, who didn't look frightened at all. He made a quick jump, and before Sasuke knew it, Itachi was at equal height.

"You're so weak, little brother.."

Sasuke was raging. His heart was pounding rapidly in his chest, and he found it difficult to control all his anger. He made a jump towards Itachi in an attempt to swipe him off his feet, but he failed. Instead, he landed next to him, on his knees. Itachi grabbed him by his collar and breathed against his ear:

"You're still not worthy of being an Uchiha.."

He let the numb boy take a look into his eyes, and with that, he slightly flicked the boy's forehead with his index- and middle finger, letting him fall about 6 metres to the ground.

* * *

The world around him seemed to change again; the sky turned blood red with black, and he knew he was in the Tsukiyomi. The world he was in was almost normal; only time seemed to be ticking slower than usual. 

He could walk around freely, although he knew he _had_ to get out of here. Before he had any time to think it over, somebody approached him from behind. First he thought it was Itachi who was going to punish him or something, but when he turned around, he saw it was worse. _Way_ worse.

Naruto.

The all-too-familiar boy walked up to him. There was something different about him though; his eyes. This could not be the real Naruto..

His eyes were a dark blue, cold and unforgiving. Just as cold as his voice, Sasuke noted when he started to speak.

"You," he started, and that was spoken with such venom, it could rival Manda's teeth.

"Are a fucking traitor." He continued, and when the words had sunken in he went on:

"You betrayed Konoha, you betrayed _me, _just because you were too lazy, too weak to handle Itachi yourself."

Although Sasuke knew this wasn't true, hearing this from the blond's mouth..

Just when he was about to reply, the Tsukiyomi-Naruto vanished.

_Damn.._

As he heard shuffling sounds behind him, his head jumped around to see what was going to happen to him _now?_

What he saw wasn't the Sakura or Kakashi he'd expected, but something completely different.

Naruto fighting Itachi, their moves almost invisible due to the high speed.

What? Naruto fighting Itachi? Sasuke watched with amazement as Naruto worked his brother against the ground, intending to kill him, if Kakashi hadn't restrained him.

He heard Kakashi say:

"This is Sasuke's battle, if you kill Itachi now, the consequences will be yours.. but let's not talk about that"

Naruto threw a final, dirty look at Itachi, then vanished along with everything else, except for Sasuke and the empty landscape.

The amazement he'd felt just now, slowly turned into an indescribable feeling of rage and jealousy, a malicious hatred toward the blond boy, not realizing this was what Itachi wanted, not realizing that he again, had lost to his precious brother.

"You'll pay for this, Naruto.." was the last thought before the dark-haired boy passed out from sheer exhaustion.

In the outside world, the oldest Uchiha pulled on his coat again, and poked his bruised little brother in the ribs with his foot. Sasuke rolled over, and at seeing the tortured, creased face of his brother, Itachi smiled melancholically. (In Itachi's case, you can see it as sadistic, instead of melancholic.)

It was really fin teasing him, but he really needed a worthy opponent to measure himself with again, and although his little brother had improved a lot since their last encounter, (Yes, even Itachi has to admit that) his hatred and anger was too much an obstacle for him. That's why he'd shown him the image of him fighting the fox-boy, so that Sasuke would realize it was his own weakness that caused his loss, and not Itachi's power, so that he would realize Itachi _could _be beaten.

It would encourage him to obtain the Mangekyou, and that caused two benefits for Itachi: He would get a worthy opponent, _with _Mangekyou, and while Sasuke was busy improving himself again, he and Kisame would get the opportunity to retrieve the nine-tails demon.

There was one thing Itachi hadn't foreseen, and this was his first flaw ever. If Sasuke were to kill his best friend, Itachi would never be able to catch the fox-boy..


	2. Chapter 2

**Eek. So, well. Here's the second chapter for those who want to read! To the 2 peoplewho replied: Arigato gozaimasu! Itachi's really.. hard to write because, well. He's Itachi. And that so cool about him. We hardly know anything about him.. Overall, this chapter took me ages because.. it's a fighting scene, mostly. And I SUCK at that. Future chapters will follow soon :)**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, never will, either. And please flame if you want to, I can take it. But meh, not about the pairing, because I warned you. (future) SasuNaru, NaruSasu. One-sided SakuSasu. And like, minor hints of KakaIru. Because Suus wanted to. -cough-**

**Please review.**

* * *

"Is he dead, Kabuto?"

"I don't think so, Orochimaru-sama," said man whispered, checking the boy's pulse. "Just unconscious. Don't you think we underestimated Itachi, Orochimaru-sama?"

"No, I don't. But we overestimated Sasuke's mental stability, though. That brother of him drives him up the walls as much as he drives him to his knees."

"Heal his worst wounds," Orochimaru ordered. "The minor we'll heal later, when we're back."

Orochimaru mentioned for Kabuto to pick the unconscious boy up, which he did. The body stayed limp in his arms, while they headed for Sound village.

After Itachi had left, the 2 had come from behind the bushes, having watched the whole fight, but not wanting to interfere. Actually, had wanted to, but knew if he were to interfere, Sasuke would've never let them live it down. This was Sasuke's battle, and he had to beat his brother on his own. Orochimaru's hands had itched to smash that pretty little face of his, when seeing Itachi's calm expression. (A/N: in the manga has been mentioned that Orochimaru once had Itachi as his target, but when he proposed to take over his body, Itachi kicked his sorry ass.)

* * *

Sasuke woke up, and hesitantly opened his eyes to stare at the white ceiling above him. It didn't last long before the memories of the past night came back wit full force. Painful memories. He closed his eyes again in a futile attempt to ban the images out of his head. _Naruto.._

A sudden wave of nausea washed over him, and he quickly rolled to the side of the bed to prevent throwing up on his sheets. He emptied his stomach on the ground, and coughed. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand when Kabuto came in, surprise visible on his face.

"Sasuke, are you okay?" the gray-haired medic-nin asked, still standing in the doorway. "You've been out for almost 4 days"

"Do I look like I'm okay?" Sasuke cynically replied. "I feel like shit"

Kabuto chose to ignore this comment, and turned around.

"I'm going to get Orochimaru-sama. Stay where you are." He said over his shoulder, before walking away.

Sasuke sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, careful to avoid his puke. He sure was going to get dressed before that bastard came in, or else he would have to change in his presence. No .Way. In. Hell.

He pulled some clean clothes on, while his thoughts drifted off to yesterday. He had officially ruined his last chance to beat his brother. He'd had Orochimaru's help, and he still hadn't been able to beat him. And now, he'd lost everything. His last meaning in life was gone, as was his second. And his third. He really felt like shit, though. Although physically, Kabuto had healed all his wounds, he didn't have anything to stick on to this time. He was lost. He felt.. Defeated. Dull. Empty. Hollow. Were there any more words to describe it? Of course he could blame Itachi for all this, for being his psycho brother. Or maybe himself, for being so weak. But at the moment, he mostly blamed Naruto.. for.. for.. being Naruto, for being stronger than he himself was. His stomach clenched painfully as he thought about Naruto. He had lost him, and that was final. The thoughts raged on inside his head, when Orochimaru who came in, accompanied by a gruff looking Kabuto interrupted his train of thoughts.

"Why hello, Sasuke-kun.. It seems we have some talking to do.." 

----

**Like, 10 minutes before all this **

"Orochimaru-sama, Sasuke-kun is awake. How should we approach him?"

"Hm.. That's a good question.." Orochimaru answered thoughtfully. "Regarding from what we've heard, Sasuke's hatred has something to do with-"

"His brother, we knew that already, Orochimaru-sa-"

"Let me finish, Kabuto.. –The fox boy."  
"-Naruto." Kabuto interrupted again.

"I know, just let me talk, Kabuto! As we all know, Itachi's organization, Akatsuki, as they call themselves, are after the Jinchuuriki. Including Naruto,"

"But what does that have to do with Sasuke-kun?"

"Well, it seems Sasuke holds.. strange feelings towards the fox boy. We can roughly distinguish two of them – love and hate. And although we know Sasuke's main weakness in battle is anger, we have to let one of the feelings take over."

Orochimaru paused to take a breath, and then continued:

"This will also hold benefits for us, because One: Sasuke-kun obtains the Mangekyou by killing his best friend and Two: With this, Itachi's target will be dead and we thwart Itachi's organization's plans."

Kabuto was stunned, and without speaking, he followed Orochimaru to Sasuke's room.

* * *

Sasuke sprinted through Sound's woods, not even being close to Konoha's borders, while the sun was going down already. He'd sure chosen the right timing for this..

At first, he'd been hesitant about this, but talking with Orochimaru made obvious he should obtain the Mangekyou, and that it was his last chance. The waves of anger and hatred towards the blond haired boy became more frequent, and he tried to convince himself that it was going to be all right. When he was 12, he'd often wondered if it was all worth it. And why.. Just why was it his fate, HIS destiny to live this life, and not someone else's. But now, he fully accepted his fate. He'd always been hiding behind a mask, because feelings were traitorous. If you succumbed to them, you were helpless.

_"Sasuke. You can take leave of Sound on one condition; you have to wear this." Orochimaru took a dark object from his pocket and mentioned for Sasuke to come closer, and to turn around. Sasuke did as he was told, and felt a thing being tied around his head. A headband. From the village of sound. "Vow, that you will not take this off. Ever. You can go now, and I expect you back within a week. Then we can begin the ceremony."_

* * *

It was getting dark, and he was within 1 kilometers of Konoha. He'd chosen to spend the night in a tree, so that he could enter Konoha while it was light. He was making up a plan to get into Konoha unseen, although it wouldn't be difficult.. He just had to get to Naruto without being seen.

------

The dark-haired boy stood in front of the gates of Konoha, looking up the giant doors. He closed his eyes and sighed. This was his final chance. He formed a seal with his hands, and when the smoke cleared up, a man with a scar on his nose and a slightly tanned skin appeared.

Iruka.

He knew his former teacher would be teaching classes around this time, so, even if he would be seen, he would have a good excuse. He pushed the huge door open, and behind it was a bored looking guard, who asked in a monotone voice: "Country, village, name please.. Iruka-sensei! What are you doing here so early?"

"I woke up early, and I decided it was time for a walk," Sasuke replied like his former teacher would, scratching his nose.

"Alright, have a good day, Iruka!"

"Same to you," he said, curled his eyes upwards and smiled, before walking further into the village. He had no clue where to find Naruto, so he started at the most logical place. Ichiraku's. When he walked past the ramen shop, the only man visible was the shopkeeper, whom he smiled at friendly. He decided he should just ask around if someone had seen the blond boy somewhere.

"Excuse me, have you seen a boy here? He's about.." Sasuke had to think about what Naruto's length would be around now, so he took a rough gamble and said: ".. About.. 1.75, 1.85. Blond, hyper, with 3 whisker marks on each cheek? No? Okay, thank you," he smiled again at the woman he'd asked, who blushed.

He asked a few more people, but none of them knew where the boy was, or just didn't want to tell him. He walked past the Hokage's office and saw Kakashi sitting there, listening to a long rant from Tsunade. He noticed the chuunin and smirked through his mask. He quickly said something to Tsunade to brush her off, and jumped out of the window.

"Iruka-chan, I thought you had to work today?" the gray-haired man said, and ignored Tsunade's yelling out of the window.

"Er.. Yes, but I took the day off. Someone else is teaching," he replied unsure, and dodged the hand that was about to wrap around his waist.

"But, er.. I have to go. Have you seen Naruto somewhere? I need to talk to him,"

"Er, yes.. He's somewhere in the building, he's just been assigned a mission with Sakura," Kakashi said disappointed because Iruka didn't want to play with him.

"Alright, thanks. And.. I think you should run," nodding at the furious Hokage that was coming after Kakashi, who disappeared with a poof.

Sasuke friendly nodded at Tsunade, and pushed the door open.

He waited patiently in the room next to Tsunade's, and looked up when the door opened, revealing 2 teens around 16 years. He was shocked to see them like that, after 3 years..

"Hey, Iruka-sensei, aren't you supposed to be teaching?" Naruto's voice sounded like music in his ears. He bet even Sakura's voice would make him happy. But he knew what he had to do.

"Um, no," he said and grinned while scratching his scar. "I took the day off. I need to talk with you, Naruto,"

"Er.. All right. The mission can wait for five more minutes. Do you mind if we take a walk, Sakura-chan?"

_Flinch_

Still Sakura-chan? Iruka's eyessuddenly flasheda pitch black. He quickly recovered himself before he would get discovered. He anxiously looked at Naruto, but the blond hadn't seen anything. He averted his eyes to Sakura. It looked like she still wasn't that observant.

"No, you guys to take that walk. I'll wait here, I think I'm going to check the details for the mission. Don't take too long, ne?"

Both guys nodded, walking out of the office, moving to a quieter place.

Then, the pink haired girl sighed and turned around. "Sasuke-kun.. Why does everything you say have to be a lie..?" she asked, and turned around into her mentor's office again. "Tsunade-sama, we need to prepare 2 hospital beds. Now."

* * *

"Sasuke?" the blonde-haired boy gasped when the smoke cleared. His blue eyes immediately filled with happy tears as he realised he was back. Sasuke was back. This boy, his best friend and even more, his rival.. They were all back.

He happily pulled the boy in a tight embrace, intending on never letting go again. He didn't notice the red orbs that were already spinning of emotion. Seeing the blond like this made a fierce crack in his resolve, which hadn't been too stable to begin with.

Naruto buried his face in the crook of the other's neck, inhaling the pleasant scent deeply. 'The reason he must've come back.. He beat Itachi?' Naruto thought, and looked at the dark-haired boy.

"You beat him!" he exclaimed happily. "You beat him, didn't you? I knew you wou-"

"Naruto," the deep voice interrupted him.

"I didn't."

"Of course you did, don't be stupid.." even Naruto was getting unsure now.

"Naruto, I _didn't beat him_."

"I- you what?" eyes wide open now.

Sasuke had shown up only half an hour ago, and he'd already managed to shock the blond twice. But.. he lost to Itachi.. that meant..

Naruto tightened his grip around the Uchiha, in a futile attempt to comfort him, but it made the crack in his resolve only bigger. In all that years, he'd tried to keep Naruto at distance, but no matter what, the hyper boy had kept showing him nothing but affection. He had always been the one to pry a reaction of of him, and had always been the one to get him talking. He was able to crawl under one's skin.. to become part of them.

He didn't understand why Naruto was still being so affectionate towards him, and that fact made it even harder to kill him.

While he leaned into the comfortable embrace he was in, his hand slowly slid to his weapon pouch. He silently took a kunai from it, and took one last inhale. He aimed without seeing what he was doing, and plunged the knife in Naruto's side.

At the same moment said boy moved away, and although he wasn't entirely able to dodge the kunai, he plunged a knife of his own in Sasuke's gut.

Facial expression shocked, Sasuke looked for words, and searched for the blond's eyes. When those met his, they were filled with sorrow and hurt.

"I'm sorry.. I-I don't want to hurt you, I.. I-"

Sasuke removed the kunai from his lower stomach, flinching as he pulled it out. He listened to the blond. "I don't want to fight.."

"I really don't."

Another crack in his resolve before he made up his mind when he realised what he was doing. His red, blood red eyes started spinning furiously again, but he tried to remain calm.

"But you seemed quite willing when you fought _him,_ didn't you?" he sneered, while he felt his anger rise again.

"Who? I haven't fought anyone serious in ages, Sasuke! What are you talking about?"

"Don't act dumb, moron! You know damn well what I'm talking about!" the Uchiha snapped while starting his attack.

"Sasuke, stop it! I have absolutely no clue what you're talking about and it doesn't seem to penetrate through that pretty head of yours that I. Don't. Want. To. FIGHT YOU!" Naruto yelled, starting to get angry too.

"Well, I. Don't Care!" the other replied menacingly. "I'm going to kill you!"

"You've said that before, you asshole! So, what are you waiting for, then? Kill me. _Kill me, you fucking bastard!" the blond yelled, angrily, desperately._

That was the only invitation Sasuke needed before he attacked, but Naruto wouldn't let him off that easily. They fought, but it was almost futile. Even after all those years, they still knew each other's moves too well. In sync they moved through the landscape, kicking, punching, aiming and dodging. It was just a matter of time before one of them would collapse.

Sasuke knew it wouldn't be him.

Naruto knew it wouldn't be him, either.

Even with Orochimaru's extra training he'd had, Sasuke's stamina had only improved a little, which gave him the feeling he'd been doing nothing at all, since Naruto was fully able to control the Kyuubi's chakra inside of him.

And when he was young.. When he was young he had been so good at denying facts. The fact that he hadn't improved, he'd always been shoving it away. But now he had to face it.

He was weak.

And now, he couldn't even deny the fact that he'd known that for months. Years. Ages.

So, with one final blown and his resolve fully shattered, he smacked against a tree and roughly fell to the ground, not bothering to catch himself when he hit the ground.

Naruto rushed up to him, face worried.  
"Sasuke!"

His vision became blurry and he felt dizzy when Naruto kneeled down next to him.

"Sasuke, are you okay?"

Sasuke smirked and gathered his last stamina and sighed before replying:

"Hn, dobe? I've.. I've always known.. you were stronger.."

With that, he collapsed to the shocked blond's shoulder.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Hehehehe. Nope, not mine. But someday.. -cough- anyway, I don't own Naruto. I only own a muffin. Want one XD?**

**Please flame if you want to. I can take it. But not, I repeat NOT about the pairing. I've warned you, and if you think it's disgusting/old-fashioned/gross/over-used or not readable in any other way, go complain somewhere else. You can flame about my writing style, though, but that won't help me get any better. So, PLEASE, if you have tips for me, say it.**

**I know there are a few typos left in Chapter 2, I'll fix them soon. Thanks to Suus for proof-reading.**

Naruto woke op, feeling slightly stiff, but good. He looked around him. Where was he? The woman beside his bed almost seemed to read his thoughts, because she replied:

"The hospital."

"Tsunade-baba! You scared me! Don't ever do that again, will you? And besides, how did I get here?" It wasn't that he wasn't remembering last night; oh no. He only didn't recall getting into the hospital.

"After Iruka, or rather, Sasuke came here to look for you, Sakura warned me, because she knew it was him. And no, I don't know why she didn't warn _you_, you'll have to ask her yourself."

"Neji and Sakura went to pick you up, because we knew you two wouldn't make it back to the village alone. Although.. I have to say Hyuuga didn't look too pleased to see you lying there with Sasuke."

"Well.. I can understand that.. He's a missing nin, after all.." Tsunade's hazel eyes hardened visibly at that.

"Yes, Naruto, we have to talk about tha-"

"Tsunade-baachan, please don't be too hard on him."

"Naru-"

"Please?" the blond pleaded.

"We'll talk about this later," the 50-year old Hokage said sternly before exiting the room.

-----

_Darkness. Only black. Where am I? Am I dead? I can't move.. I open my eyes slightly, but here's not much light here, either. There's a pink-haired medic-nin sitting next to my bed. Wait. Medic nin? Did I hurt Naruto? Where is he? A thousand more questions are floating through my head, and the only thing I remember.. is.. Naruto and I got in a fight. For real, this time. I try to sit up, to prop myself up on my elbows, but a stinging, whining pain in my abdomen restrains me. _

Sakura sat up when she saw Sasuke had opened his eyes.

_Finally_, she thought. _I thought I had lost him. _She leaned forward and embraced the boy's fragile and sore body.

"I'm so glad you're awake, Sasuke," The first thing he noticed was she'd left the suffix -kun away. _It seems even Sakura has been growing up the past years.._ he thought, and didn't move in the embrace.

Sasuke looked around the room. The curtains were closed, but through it, you could see the rays of sun. The rest of the room? It eyed all white, and within an arm's length, there was a bed with Naruto in it. He released himself from Sakura's death grip, so that he could take a close look at the blond boy. Well. Not really, because he didn't really have much power left in his arms, so he wiggled a bit and Sakura took the hint.

_Unlike a few years ago._. he thought.

Sasuke stared in the blue orbs, only to look away a few seconds later. He grabbed the glass of water on his bedside table, and took a few nips to soothe his aching throat. Not that he wanted to say something, really.

The same went for Naruto.

When he'd stared into the Uchiha's eyes, everything he'd been wanting to tell him was gone. And that's why Sakura was the first one to break the uncomfortable silence they were in.

"Um, Sasuke, Naruto? How are you feeling?" Sasuke and Naruto both had the urge to snap at her, for her dumb question. Of course they weren't feeling fine! They had beaten each other up the last night! How good CAN a person feel when his best friend has just beaten him up?

But, before they got the chance to, when Sakura saw their cynic faces, she apologetically lifted her hands and smiled.

"Sorry, sorry. I had to ask. Orders from Tsunade-sama," she said. "But! I'll have to treat your wounds now, and again, orders from Tsunade," she added when she saw Sasuke's horrid face. He didn't like being examined by some horny fangirl, who was going to drool all over him anyway. He complied as yet when he saw Sakura's calm face. "Don't worry, Sasuke, I won't try anything," she assured him. He didn't even know what kind of wounds he actually had, but Sakura was about to show him. And Naruto.

He had one really bad cut across his chest, and when Sakura removed the bandages and drained it in alcohol, he hissed in pain. The stinging, whining pain he had felt earlier came from a deep, small sort of hole in his lower stomach. He remembered the fight, when Naruto had plunged his kunai there. He also had a sprained ankle, a few minor shuriken cuts, and simply felt overall bruised.

Naruto smiled distinctly at Sasuke's examination. He himself had already healed. He only felt a little sore, which was all. He just needed rest. And some talking, that was obvious.

Sakura finished bandaging the ankle. She left its owner, who nodded, and turned around to close the curtains, which hung behind her. Now Sasuke finally had the chance to take a good look at Naruto. He was practically the same as when he'd last seen him, but slightly taller, along with his hair. Still Naruto.

Naruto didn't know what to do under the Uchiha's gaze, so he started fidgeting with his sheets.

"Sakura, could you please leave us alone?" Sasuke quietly asked.

"Of course. I'll be in Tsunade's office if you need me," she replied, head poking out of the doorway before she closed it behind her with a metallic click.

With Sakura gone, Naruto decided it was time for him to do something. He hoisted himself off the bed, walked to Sasuke's, and pulled himself on it, along with his legs, which he crossed. The blond looked the other in his eyes, then cast his own downwards.

"Sasuke," he started, whispering. "I'm.. I'm glad you're back. I missed you." Sasuke noted this came straight from Naruto's heart, and replied:

"..Me too. I..I missed you.. so much.. I really did." Sasuke replied, determinedly looking at the sheets Naruto was fidgeting with. Hearing this lit a sparkle of hope with Naruto, who slightly more confidant than before, looked up and asked:

"Well, don't you have something to say?" Sasuke winced. He'd been hoping Naruto wouldn't ask something like this from him, although it wasn't more than logical..

"I… I-" Sasuke's chest ached what he was about to tell the other boy. "I'll say this right away, before you get any assumptions. I do not regret my actions. I'm certainly not proud of what I have done, and I've already taken responsibility, but I can't apologise, simply because I don't feel sorry," Sasuke sternly said, biting his lip in insurance of what the other's reaction would be. But he simply had to do this. It was true what he'd just said, and he didn't like saying this, especially not to Naruto, but he felt it as his duty as an Uchiha to make it clear. Uchiha's didn't feel sorry, didn't feel anything at all. But seeing the hurt look on is friend's face shattered all his pride again. "Naruto.. Please don't get me wrong. I would like to just say sorry to you and make you happy, but I… I can't. I can't betray my clan, and myself can I? And I don't want to lie to you, either…"

Naruto's facial expression was unreadable. It held a kind of acknowledgement in them, but also hurt. _Lots _of hurt. He hopped off the bed and lay down on his own again; his back turned.

"I understand, Sasuke. I understand,"

"A-are you sure? Are you okay, Naruto?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Go to sleep, you need the rest." Still unsure, but noticing the truth in the boy's words, he lay down again and faced the other's turned back.

"Maybe you're right.." he said, and with that, he closed his eyes and almost immediately fell asleep.

Naruto closed his eyes too, though not in an attempt to sleep. He needed to think. Badly. What he'd said hadn't been difficult for him, but for Sasuke, it turned out to be a whole lot of a problem. What should he do? Forgive him? Get mad at him? Well, no. The latter wasn't really an option, since the dark-haired boy's mental health already wasn't really… stable.

A sigh filled the room. The blond turned around, to see the face of the sleeping Uchiha whose steady breathing was audible. Seeing this peaceful scene, Naruto was about to forgive Sasuke this instant. But, even HE had some self-respect left. He sighed again. He wasn't sleepy at all… As he hopped off the bed again, he grabbed his clean non-pyjama clothes and put them on. He hesitated. If he were to go through the door, Tsunade would definitely catch him. And… since he wasn't allowed to be out of bed, he wasn't exactly looking forward to the woman's wrath. He shivered. _The window it is, then, _he thought, as he took one last glance at Sasuke before jumping out of the window.

-----

Tsunade looked at the clock. Shit. Time to see the two boys. Naruto, this time, wasn't the one she was mad at.

She knocked on the door, and rudely entered immediately. The cold wind greeted her the instant she'd opened the door. _Naruto…_

She cracked her knuckles evilly and looked homicidal for a moment – She'd told him to stay in the hospital, or else he would wear himself out too much again. She closed the window quietly, but the sound made Sasuke wake up.

-----

Naruto walked. And walked. And walked some more. He always did that when he was upset or needed time to think. He just walked, and he would see where he could sit undisturbed.

This time it was a lake. He plopped down unceremoniously and rested his chin on his knees, where he'd wrapped his arms around.

Think, Naruto. Think.

-----

"Hello Sasuke-san!" Tsunade said while obviously faking her voice. "Time to clean your bandages," she said, clenching her teeth to force herself to stay polite. That face.. that calm, calculated pretty face only could make her blood boil already. Sasuke, who was in a sitting position now, cast his eyes up and said:

"Tsunade-sama, I'm not stupid. Quit faking your voice and get angry with me already."

"Alright, Uchiha," she said, clenching her teeth even more while leaning forward. "I don't like you, and I don't think I ever will. You may be smart, and you may be the last sane Uchiha heir - but I'm not stupid either. You betrayed Konoha, you betrayed its people, but most of all, you betrayed Naruto. You have NO idea how much he's suffered while you were gone! And," While speaking her voice gained volume, "If it weren't for Naruto, I would've kicked you back to that bastard of an Orochimaru to let you rot!"

Sasuke had expected something like this, but it still came down quite harshly. When she'd spoken her last words, she turned around and marched away.

-----

Naruto raised himself from the cold ground, hand buried deep within his pockets. He stared at the lake, and wondered why he couldn't be as careless, without worries.

"Hi," sounded from behind him, and even without knowing he knew it was Sasuke. He now stood next to him, staring into the depths of the water, "What are you thinking of?"

"Meh.. nothing."

Sasuke lowered himself to the ground, and sat with his back against a tree trunk. He motioned for the blond to join him.

They sat there for about an hour, just talking. Just… talking quietly, chastely, trying to remain the little friendship they'd carefully built up during the last hour. Both boys found it strange to talk to the other without arguing, without having to fight.

"So.. How's Konoha been doing while I was gone?"

"Hmm…" Naruto hummed. "Same as usual. Did quite a lot missions to pay my apartment, you know… Chuunin exams… but… Mainly missions."

"So," Sasuke started, finding the Chuunin exams an interesting subject – after all, he was still a Genin himself. "You're a Chuunin, then?"

"No, I only said they took place, not that I participated," and answering the unspoken question, he said: "Didn't want to do it without you…"

"Actually, Iruka, Ero-sennin and Tsunade urged me to take it. They didn't believe you would come back…"

"What? But if you had taken it, you would have passed, I know that for sure… You would even be able to pass the Jounin exam…"

"Yeah, I know. Meh, doesn't matter, because you're here now." Before Sasuke could respond, a loud growl coming from Naruto's stomach beat him to. The blond smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I guess I'm hungry…"

"No shit, dobe," Sasuke smirked.

"Alright, I take it you pay? Thanks, bastard! And don't call me dobe!"

Everything was back to normal, it seemed.

**If you've come this far, thanks for reading. Please review**


	4. Chapter 4

Argh. O.o Those chapters were really pretty much boring, weren't they? Anyway, it will get a little bit more fun to read from now on :) This is kind of and explanation: Naruto, Sakura and everyone are pretty much assuming Sasuke to stay (and not leave again) and that's why he isn't guarded and stuff. Let's just say Konoha has faith in him. (While he himself hasn't even made up his mind.) Well, then I'll be off. Ja ne! (and please review o.o)

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**-----**

They started heading to Ichiraku's, when a seemingly shy voice called Naruto's name. When they whirled around and recognised a dark-haired girl they couldn't help but smile.

"Hey, Hinata!"

"Hello Naruto-kun, Sasuke-san," she said, and focused her pearl white eyes on the ground.

Her companion slapped Naruto on the back.

"Hey, long time no see, man," He said, before looking coldly at Sasuke.

"Hello, Sasuke."

"Hi."

"It's good to see you back, Sasuke-san," Hinata said, smiling at him. When Kiba gave Sasuke a dirty look, she elbowed him in the ribs.

"Hehe, you're right, Hinata. It's good to see you back," he lied through his teeth. Sasuke had already registered the barely concealed coldness and nodded curtly in response.

Hinata averted her eyes again, and just when she was about to say something, Naruto exclaimed:

"Um, Hinata, Kiba? We were just going to Ichiraku's, care to join us? Because.. Well, like, I'm really hungry," he grinned apologetically.

Kiba grunted. He had no intentions to spend dinner with the homicidal boy, and he knew Hinata would be chatting with Naruto. Pff. While he himself was the one who had asked the shy girl on a walk.

"Nah, I'm not hungry. You guys go," he mentioned to Sasuke and Naruto.

"Um, Kiba-kun?" Hinata asked shyly. She could easily see Kiba was hoping for her to come with him, but she hadn't talked to Naruto for ages.

"W-would you mind if I went with Naruto and Sasuke?"

The dog boy grunted, turned around and whistled. The big, white dog Kiba and Hinata had been walking with just minutes ago immediately followed his leader over the bridge.

Hinata blushed because of the fact she'd just made one of her best friends angry, but the pink quickly vanished when Naruto smiled at her and they started walking towards Ichiraku's.

They seated themselves on the stools, and ordered. Hinata and Naruto were happily chattering about.. Well, everything, while Sasuke kept himself a bit aloof and quietly ate his ramen.

He was thinking about Orochimaru, and about how he had said they expected him back within a week. It meant he had only three days left to decide whether he would leave again or not. Sitting here with his best friend made him feel at home again, but he didn't know if he was willing to give up his dream for this. His heart said yes, but in him mind he knew Orochimaru wouldn't let him off that easily.

He was roughly poked from his thoughts when Naruto prodded him none too gently in the ribs. He shook his head as if to shake away his previous thoughts and Naruto asked:

"Did you hear that, Sasuke?"

"..What?"

"A Matsuri! In Konoha!" Naruto replied and nodded to Hinata to continue, while he slurped his ramen.

"Um.." she nodded happily, although she blushed because she wasn't entirely comfortable under the stoic boy's expectant gaze.

"Yes. It's being held within two weeks to celebrate the rice harvest this year."

Sasuke was surprised, to say the least. By his knowing, a festival like this had never occurred before in Konoha. Sure, he knew what it was, but..

Naruto looked sour at the thought he would have to wear traditional clothing.

"Aww man, that stuff itches like hell.."

Hinata softly laughed at the blond's expression, but Sasuke smirked.

"Dobe, that's not the fabric, that's just you, having fleas."

Naruto pouted, and lamely retorted:

"Shut up, bastard," before turning back to Hinata, who was looking around her in search of a clock.

"It's ten past seven," Sasuke informed her.

"I'm sorry guys," she said, lifting herself from one of the stools. "I have to go, I still have quite a lot to do tonight."

She waved at them, before saying "Bye, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun!" and turning around.

"Bye, Hinata!" both boys sad in unison, before turning back to the counter.

"She's nice, ne?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke nodded in agreement.

"Oh, Sasuke, I almost forgot to ask. Where are you going to sleep tonight?"

Sasuke had to admit it was a good question. He hadn't thought about it, actually, but he surely didn't intend to spend another night in the hospital.

"I don't know. I think my old apartment has been sold, or something.."

Naruto looked at the counter, and said: "No, it hasn't. Sakura and I took turns in paying the rent every month so it wouldn't get rented by somebody else."

Sasuke was stunned by this, and raised a slender eyebrow. This proved that his former teammates had really been believing in his coming back.

"Thanks," he said, and lightly smiled. He shoved his empty bowl in the shopkeeper's direction along with some money.

"Let's go. I still have quite a lot to do, too.."

They walked to Sasuke's apartment, which wasn't too far away from Naruto's. When Sasuke opened the door and attempted to flick the light on, he looked surprised. He turned his head to look questioningly to he blond, but he shrugged.

"Yeah, the gas and stuff has been shut off, because we couldn't afford it, and it wasn't necessary anyway,"

Sasuke nodded in understanding and quickly made his way through the dark by touch. He hastily searched the drawers for candles. When he'd lit 2 of them, he gave one to Naruto and saw that everything was the same as it had used to be.

He smiled faintly when he saw a picture standing on his desk. He had laid it down when he had left, but it seemed someone had turned it up again.. The picture from three years ago, when they had just met Kakashi.

Suddenly he felt someone behind him and spun around, only to narrow his eyes in annoyed sarcasm a second later. Naruto was now standing in front of him, candle under his chin, giving his face an eerie glow while making a weird face.

"Scared in the dark, aren't we, Sasuke-chan?" he teased.

"You're 16 years old, Naruto. Start acting like it." Sasuke said and brushed past him.

"We shouldn't forget to mention to the Hokage she can shut on the gas and light again," he said into the dark, although he had a faint suspicion Tsunade knew she had to, but thought it could wait a little longer.

"You can go if you want, Naruto. It's getting dark already.."

"No way, bastard. I'm not going to leave you alone until you've told me everything," Naruto exclaimed, forgetting that Sasuke was maybe only temporarily back.

"And I'm going to help you make this place habitable again," he stated, and lifted his thumb.

"I'll be back in a moment. You go.. make your bed or something."

The dark-haired boy heard the door slam shut and looked at his bed. The white sheets lay neatly folded on his bed, ready to be made.

After a few minutes Naruto came barging in with.. stuff.

"Here's your breakfast, bastard," Naruto grinned, and when he saw the other's questioning expression, he said:

"Remember? The shops are closed tomorrow. Sunday, you know? And I don't suppose you have any food left in here.." he finished, and to prove his point, he opened a few very empty cupboards.

Sasuke nodded as Naruto put his breakfast on the table, and was about to make his bed when Naruto plopped down on it.

"Man, am I tired," he yawned, laying down on the mattress.

"Dobe, get up or you'll fall asleep," Sasuke said while he turned around again to place his things in a cupboard.

As he spun around again to kick the blond off his bed, his eyes widened, and then narrowed in are-you-kidding-me-sarcasm. A sweatdrop appeared on his face when he approached the bed and poked the softly snoring form on it.

"You must be kidding me.." He sighed, pulled out a second blanket and covered the sleeping form with it, before taking his own, then lying down on the couch after undressing.

He cast one last look at the blond before peacefully falling asleep within minutes.

-----

'_Good morning, bastard! Thanks for letting me sleep over. Kakashi wants us to meet at 12, usual place. _

_See you there. Scratch. You'd better be on time_

_Naruto.'_

The tiny, hand-written note whirled off the table as the dark-haired, currently half-asleep boy sat down at the small table to eat his breakfast. He'd noticed already that the blond had left before him, because the bed was empty and the comforter was neatly laid back on the bed.

He curiously read the little paper and could only wonder why Kakashi would want to speak to them. He ate his breakfast and shot a glance at the clock. One hour left to shower, get dressed and get to the bridge. While he placed the bowl in the sink he crumbled the paper and threw it away, before walking off to shower.

-----

So, he arrived 10 minutes early at the bridge, which had also been their daily meeting place 3 years ago. Sasuke assumed Kakashi meant the bridge, since the note had read 'usual place'.

After 20 minutes of waiting annoyedly, Naruto appeared.

"Right on time, dobe," Sasuke said sarcastically. "I was about to leave."

"Which means I was too early," Naruto grinned.

"No, you're late. Weren't you the one who told me to be on time?"

"Meh, I'm late on purpose."

"Sure. Idiot."

"It's true! I mean, I left my apartment late because I knew Kakashi would be late so it wasn't worth going early, since Kakashi-pervert is _always _late!"

Sasuke had to admit the blond made sense for once. He himself hadn't thought about it, and had just assumed their teacher would be on time -- stupid, now that the thought about it. The day Kakashi would be on time would be the day hell froze over, or, the day Hinata would tell Naruto that she liked him, the day Neji would admit someone else was right, the day Shino's bugs would devour him from within, the day Kabuto would stop kissing Orochimaru's feet, the day Itachi stopped being drop dead sexy, the day Ino stopped being annoying or the day Kiba's breath would stop smelling like dog-food, the day Orochimaru would quit being a paedophile, the day Shikamaru would work his ass off or even the day Sasuke would kiss Sakura. In other words, never. (A/N: am I overreacting here o.o'?)

Suddenly, Kakashi appeared out of nowhere, fake-hurt expression plastered on his only half-visible face.

"Naruto! How could you? Calling an innocent, unsuspecting man a pervert! That's not very nice of you."

The blue-eyed boy's eyes narrowed to tiny slits in his Naruto-like manner, as he said:

"It's true."

"Ah." The silver-haired jounin nodded happily.

Sasuke heaved a sigh. Still the 2 idiots they had been before he had left.

"Well, what I wanted to say, Sasuke.. It's good to see you back," Kakashi nodded seriously. "Naruto, could you please leave us alone for a minute? Thank you," he said when the blonde left.

"Sasuke, I need to talk to you," Kakashi said.

"You're not thinking about going back, are you?" he asked, waiting for a reply he wasn't going to get.

"Because if you are, you can decide on your own whether or not you want to leave, but remember this: I will kill you if you ever betray the Leaf again, teammate or not."

Kakashi cast him one last glance before he mentioned Naruto over.

"It may seem a little bit early - but the chuunin exams are coming. You may remember your exams where Orochimaru interrupted? Well, you and the others didn't get the chance to finish it, so the others took the following Chuunin - and Jounin - exams. But, since you weren't there and Naruto didn't want to take it, this seems like a good enough opportunity. I figured you could take the upcoming exam too, but there aren't any people of your level and year, so I thought you two would want to do it this way."

"All right.." Sasuke started. He was rather glad they could do it this way. Even though he didn't know what 'this' was.. He figured it would be some alternative method to become chuunin.

"And.. you're probably wondering why we don't just give you the title of chuunin. I'm sure many people would speak in favour of your skills when needed, and I, too, know you're capable enough to become chuunin or even jounin - But Tsunade-sama insisted on the formal way. Well, the formal way at first, but I persuaded her. Anyway, you're probably wondering what you'll have to do, but I'm not going to tell you because there won't be any training needed. You'll see when the time comes."

-----

They walked back to the more crowded parts of Konoha, where the shops and supermarkets were. Sasuke personally preferred the outskirts and shortcuts, but Naruto had dragged him along, to 'socialise'. He wondered why he was letting himself be dragged by Naruto, but somehow he couldn't bring up the will power to refuse. And besides, it couldn't be too bad.. now could it? He had to get his groceries anyway.

"Oi, Naruto, Sasuke! There you are!" a voice called, the laziness of it already indicating whose it was.

"I've been searching for you for ages," Shikamaru said, nodding to Sasuke.

"Welcome back. When did you return?" he asked.

"A few days ago," the dark-haired boy replied. He was surprised Shikamaru hadn't heard it from Hyuuga yet.

When they walked further into the centre, they suddenly heard a voice calling for Naruto - or so it seemed.

"Oi, blondie! Yes, over here!"

Temporarily, Sasuke didn't recognise the voice, but then he saw the shop they were in front of - the Yamanaka flower shop.

A blonde girl of his age was waving enthusiastically at them from behind the counter - Ino. She left the shop and joined the three friends.

"Sasuke! You're back," she called out surprisedly, quickly pulling him into a hug, then glomping the other dark-haired boy.

Sasuke had the faint urge to snap 'No shit,' at her, but Naruto beat him to it.

"What, you're not going to fawn all over him?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"Nah, I only did that to annoy forehead-girl," she smiled. "And besides, I have Shikamaru now, don't I?"

She wrapped her arms around said boy, who muttered something incoherent that faintly sounded like 'troublesome.'

Naruto's chin collided hard with the ground, when his mouth fell open.

"..You- you two are dating! I mean, even _I _didn't know that!"

"The proof of your social skills, dobe," Sasuke mockingly said, smirk gracing his handsome features when Naruto pouted.

"But, the reason why I was looking for you guys," Shikamaru started, releasing himself of the blonde's grip, and said blonde went back into the shop after waving goodbye.

"Tsunade wanted to speak to you," he nodded to Sasuke.

"They're really sending me everywhere," he continued. "As if I'm some damn dog or something, to fetch everything and everyone-"

"Yea, whatever Shikamaru," Naruto interrupted, and dragged the stoic Uchiha with him after saying a quick goodbye.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Due to several things (mainly lack of inspiration, bandfic-lovin' and the urge to write an AU fic) I'm still desperate (-cough-) in search of a co-author (Yes, again.) I want to write a fic about Sasuke and Naruto (duh.) where they're art/music/English/whatever majors and, well, I don't know. Start a band or something. (Yes, I know it's cliché o.o) Anywhore, If you would want to help me (I'd be very honoured) please leave a review and/or email. Arigatou gozaimasu :D

o.o.. All right.. Here's chapter 5, please enjoy –bows- Please review!

"Alright, Uchiha, first things first; why did you walk away yesterday? We - especially Sakura, I didn't particularly care - were worried sick about you. You're still injured, for God's sake! Are you out of your mind?" Tsunade ranted, raising her voice while she was at it.

When Sasuke shook his head she clasped her hands together and rested her hands on it, eyes closed.

"Well, about you punishment," she smirked, "A certain blond asked me not to be too harsh on you, and since you did no - physical - harm to Konoha, you'll be put under surveillance for a month."

Sasuke had calmly been waiting to hear his judgement, but had expected a more.. harsh treatment. Surveillance didn't sound that bad..

"I hope you understand this is _not _the way we usually treat S-ranked criminals, but you're an exception, and we've been very mild on you. Putting that aside, surveillance, or, monitoring will be done, in order, by: Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Neji, TenTen and Nara Shikamaru."

The Uchiha groaned. He'd been hoping his cousin wouldn't be on the list but, ironically speaking, fate must've turned against him.

"Why aren't there any senior jounin on the list?" he asked, sincerely curious.

The Hokage looked a little.. disgruntled, and gruffly replied: "We're short on free jounin right now, so that's why the chuunin and jounin exams will be held soon.."

Sasuke nodded. "So.. If I may ask, why can I enter the chuunin exam while it's not even sure I'll stay?" He asked, silently challenging Tsunade.

"_Like I said,"_ she emphasised. "We're short on capable jounin right now, so the new jounin were assigned genin teams so the older, and more experienced jounin can go on missions," Tsunade said as if she didn't want to admit.

"Not many people find a shinobi's life attracting, so they get a normal job and put their kids on normal schools. That's why we need all the help we can get right now." She rubbed her temples thoughtfully.

"Besides, Naruto told me you failed to kill Itachi-"

Sasuke cringed.

"- and left with Orochimaru's permission. I don't know how you did it, and hell, I don't even want to know," she added as an afterthought, looking disgustedly. "But he'll be expecting you back, is that true?"

Sasuke nodded hesitantly.

"Then.. we can be expecting him soon, can't we?"

"That depends on if I go back or not," Sasuke smirked. "Will you risk Konoha for the sake of one citizen, namely, me?"

"I have a faint feeling you haven't even decided if you go back yourself, Uchiha," she smirked triumphantly. "And, don't get too excited, because I'm not risking Konoha for your sake, but for Naruto's."

----

Staying in Konoha would mean trouble with Orochimaru, a month of monitoring, then becoming chuunin, maybe even jounin. Most of all, his remaining friendship with Naruto. In brief, a possible future and a still-living Itachi.

Leaving Konoha would mean Orochimaru and his paedophilic treatment, a jealous Kabuto, Itachi still being after Naruto without him being there to protect him, trouble with Konoha, and on top of that, losing his friendship with Naruto, who probably wouldn't even let him off that easily.

The Uchiha didn't mind his drained clothes and hair, as he continued his musings while the rain was still thrumming rhythmically on the roofs of Konoha. His mood saddened as he thought how it once had been, how it was now, how it could have and should have been.

Suddenly, the air above him became dry as none other than Uzumaki Naruto held a hideous, orange, frog-patterned umbrella above his head.

Sasuke didn't react to the gesture, either too deep in thoughts, or too arrogant to say thanks.

"Well, Uchiha, you could at least thank me for preventing you from getting sick," Naruto teased, walking next to his best friend.

When the other non-responsive form, again, didn't react, he asked: What are you thinking about?"

No reply.

"You're thinking about going back, aren't you?" he asked softly, stopping dead in his tracks. This caught the Uchiha's attention.

"How do you know?"

"I just know you too well, I guess. It's just your.. I don't know, your eyes, your attitude, your everything.."

Silence.

"So, made your decision yet?"

"…"

"I really don't get you, Sasuke!" Naruto raised his voice, dropping the umbrella, uncaring about the rain and the people that were staring at them.

"There's nothing there for you, bastard! All Orochimaru wants is your body, he really won't give you a second chance or something. You know how his disgusting mind works. You've had your chance, now it's his!"

"Why do you care? And besides, there's nothing here for me either!"

"You know why I care! And what does it matter if there's nothing here for you either? At least you have friends here."

"Having friends won't help me kill Itachi," Sasuke screamed now, not even realising how wrong he was.

Naruto was speechless, and knew from indignity not what to say.

"When you returned, I thought you had come around, but now it turns out you're still as power-hungry as you were before! I want you to stay because of Kakashi, because of Sakura, HELL, I want you to stay because of me, but if you're telling me there's nothing that keeps you here, then I don't care, then you can just go… fuck off or something!"

"Uzumaki," Sasuke started, voice filled with venom now.

"Do you think it was easy for me when I first left? Do you think I liked to trade my warm, happy existence in exchange for a dark, sad, difficult life? _Do you think that was easy?_"

"Resorting to surnames now, Uchiha?" Naruto sneered. "And besides, you didn't seem too troubled when you punched a fucking hole through my chest!" He yelled, though immediately regretting it. But all Sasuke did was stare, before his brows creased together and he menacingly said: "You have no idea how right you are, Uzumaki."

And the raindrops kept falling.

-----

Days flew by rather quickly as the Matsuri approached, and at every day's end, Naruto would scold himself for not talking to Sasuke. Each morning, the blond planned on acting civil to the Uchiha again, but the moment the dark-haired boy's smirk-included pretty face came into view, Naruto's anger boiled up again.

The festival was only three days away now, and the whole village seemed to be occupied with it.

The Yamanaka shop was picking out flowers for the decoration, stalls and beams suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and most clothes shops were putting their collection of yukata on sale.

As Naruto wandered around the square, he heard his name being called. He looked around, first seeing nobody, but then noticing the tanned face of his former teacher.

"Naruto, over here," said man yelled, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"Iruka-sensei, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked, quickly approaching the older man.

"Well, I kind of volunteered to help the Hokage organise this.." Iruka sheepishly laughed, scratching the small scar on his nose.

"Wow that's awesome!" Naruto exclaimed.

"But I called you to ask you a favour, Naruto. Tomorrow, all the stalls will have to be set up, so I was wondering if maybe you'd want to help us, because, well, we really-"

"It's all right, Iruka-sensei," Naruto smiled. "Don't worry. Should I bring some more people?"

"Well, I already asked a few more so with you included I think we'll manage."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then!"

"Wait, Naruto! How's Sasuke doing?" Iruka asked, curiously raising an eyebrow. When Naruto stiffened, he apologised. "I'm sorry I just.. I just haven't spoken to him for a while, and when I did yesterday, he seemed to be upset and I didn't want to bother him so I kept it short.. Does it have to do something with you?" the dark-haired man asked quietly, his father-figure mode switching on.

"Yeah, we, um.. we had an argument," Naruto started hesitantly.

Iruka sighed and rolled his eyes. 'There's really always something wrong between you guys, isn't it?" He said, and playfully ruffled Naruto's blond hair.

"Well, it isn't my fault!" Naruto replied indignantly, his voice gaining a little volume.

"Oh, Naruto, I didn't mean it like that," Iruka smiled, placing a hand on the blond's shoulder to soothe him. "I meant, if every time you fight you both get affected by it, why are you still doing it?"

"I don't know.. I mean, I have my dreams and principles and he has his. I guess that doesn't go very well together," Naruto said, weakly smiling. "But at least he's back. Anyway, I have to get going, I've got an appointment with Tsunade, and I don't want to know what happens when I'm late," he scowled. "See you tomorrow, Iruka-sensei!" he yelled, before taking off.

"Bye, Naruto!" the chuunin yelled after him before sighing and smiling fondly. 'Little boys grow up so quickly..'

----

"Tsunade-baa-chan!" Naruto yelled when he barged into the Hokage office. "Tsu-" When he saw the sleepy head belonging to the sixth Hokage, he frowned. "You were sleeping." He accused her, eyes narrowed.

"Was not," came the dull answer. "I was just taking a nap.. Lemme sleep for five more minutes.. Okay..?" she asked before letting her head fall on the table again. Naruto shook her shoulders violently. "C'mon baac-han, you said you would help me pick a yukata today, so come on," he whined. Tsunade shook her head as if to shake away the sleepiness and raised herself from her knees before walking to a random closet in her office.

"This," she started, and pulled out a light blue cloth from the closet, gently unfolding it and holding it out. "Has been from the fourth."

Naruto's eyes widened. "But- but what if I ruin it? I mean, you know me, I-" Naruto protested.

The blonde woman grinned. "You won't. Because, when you do, I'll kill you." She simply said, and thrust the kimono in his hands, along with the obi and underclothes. "Here. And now let me sleep.." she murmured, sitting down at her desk again, head folded in her arms.

----- The next day o.o---

A cold pair of eyes met the blond's when the latter dragged a few wooden beams to the huge square. When the eyes kept staring at him for more than 5 seconds, Naruto snapped: "What are you looking at?"

The eyes kept staring, and Naruto had issues keeping his facial expression serious. When he stared intently at the well-defined, pale face of the other, he started to smile. Naruto's mouth twitched, and exactly three seconds later he burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha! You.. –hahaha- should look at your.. –ahaha- face right now –haha-"

Now, even the stoic Uchiha cracked a smile. "Stop it, you dobe," he smirked, walking up to him and hitting the blond on the head. "Stop it, you're making me look ridiculous!" he smiled, hoisting his own beams on his shoulder. "You were asked by Iruka as well?" he questioned, when he saw the blond had stopped laughing, now only a faint reminiscent of the former expression of happiness left.

"Yeah, you too?"

Sasuke looked at him as if he were crazy. "Of course. Why else would I be here?"

"..I thought, maybe you finally decided to do something nice.. or something.. like.. that." Naruto rambled.

Silence.

"Okay, so I was mistaken, That time will never come," Naruto rolled his eyes and walked ahead of him.

What Naruto didn't know, was that Iruka or anyone else hadn't asked Sasuke. The onyx-eyed boy was the only one who knew the real reason, and that was because Naruto would be there also.

**A/N**: Alright, the ending sounded too sappy, but let's just say Sasuke just enjoys Naruto's company. They're not.. yet.. involved in something romance-ish. Please review o.o Next chapter will be the matsuri (when the shounen-ai ness will start o.o) PLEASE REVIEW n.n


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey :) Sorry I'm so late (Omg I haven't updated for more than a month) but we had muscial and MUN (Model United Nations) and stuff. Well, the musical went really well (we did Grease) and I've been made captain for next year. AND I went to Panic! At the disco. They were a-w-e-s-o-m-e. Anyway, on with the fic (I hope somebody is actually reading this..) It's un beta-ed, sorry for that.**

The Konoha square the festival was held, was almost unrecognisable. It was decorated beautifully with lights, flowers, and lanterns. At least half of the square was occupied with several stalls, with all-different foods, games like karaoke or souvenirs. There were a few people walking around, passing out free sake, and two or three hand-made dragons were wandering around. Naruto bet that at least 95 of Konoha's population had to be there, all walking around in different-coloured kimonos. It was an amazing sight to see, Naruto stated, after he had looked around admiringly. He was waiting next to the Takoyaki stand, where he had promised to meet Sasuke and Sakura. He was wearing the light blue kimono he'd had from Tsunade, promising him a very slow and painful death if he'd ruin it. Stupid old hag.

Suddenly Sasuke appeared next to him. He stepped out of the faint cloud of smoke that had appeared, and returned Naruto's puzzled look.

"What?" the brunette asked, questioningly raising one eyebrow.

"You can do the.. poof-thing?" Naruto asked, making weird hand-gestures to make clear what he meant.

"No."

"But you just did i-"

"That's a stupid question, dobe. I just appeared with a poof and you ask me if I'm able to do it," Sasuke replied, and rolled his eyes visibly. He was wearing a dark bluish-purple kimono, decorated with white and blue designs, a dark red, very thick rope circling his waist to keep it from opening. In the 'belt' a katana was tied. The Uchiha's hair was combed down, failing to get the usual rooster-tail look.

Naruto rolled his eyes too. "Who dressed you up like this?" he snickered, knowing the onyx-eyed man would never do that himself. When said man was looking at him sarcastically, he continued. "Sakura, right?"

"Hn."

"And what's the sword for? This is a festival, not a battlefield.." he snickered again, while taking a sip of his cup of sake he'd just taken from a girl who passed it out.

"Shut up, you're annoying," Sasuke retorted, while being saved from Naruto's snickers by Sakura who came walking to them. It was getting dark already, and even though none of them had a watch or clock, Naruto guessed it was around 10:30 PM.

"Sakura!" Naruto yelled, meeting her on her way. "You look beautiful," he said, smiling charmingly. Sasuke nodded agreeingly, causing Sakura to blush. "Thank you," she smiled, and looked appreciative.

"You look good too, Naruto.. Where did you get that kimono? Ino has been looking for that colour for ages," she said and nodded indicatingly to the light blue colour. When Naruto explained Tsunade had given it to him, and to whom it had belonged to, her mouth fell open.

"Really? That's so awesome.." she said, while turning her head to Sasuke. "and you.. well, of course you look good," she smugly grinned, knowing Sasuke wasn't very fond of the outfit she had chosen for him. She herself was wearing a self-designed kimono, the overall colour dark red, with many different designs on it. Strings with beads on them attached the different parts of the dress. And her pink hair was in a ponytail, held up by long hairpins, also with strings with beads on them.

"Eh.." she started. "shall we go sit with the rest of the group, or do you guys want to hang around here first?" she asked, with 'group' motioning to the rest of their year sitting around a small fire in one of the corners of the square.

The blond looked at Sasuke. "You choose," he said.

"Is Hyuuga there?" the onyx-eyes man asked, turning to Sakura.

"Yes.. why?"

Not answering her question, he turned to Naruto. "Hang around here first?" he asked, and when Naruto nodded, Sakura apologised. "Do you guys mind? I promised TenTen I would help her hook up with Neji.." she sheepishly said.

"Nah, go ahead.." Naruto said. "We'll enjoy ourselves.."

---

The 2 wandered around the square, playing a few games at different stalls, and buying some firework to donate to the group later. They had promised everyone would buy some firework so they could light it together with the people of their year.

"So.. what's with you and Neji?" the blond asked curiously, wondering why Sasuke had wanted to avoid him earlier.

"Well. The main reason is because he's a damn prick, but he's also my surveillant this week, so I'd rather not have him around right now.." Sasuke said, pulling a face at the thought of his pale-eyed cousin.

"Aw, come on, Sasuke," Naruto whined. "Neji isn't that bad once you get to know him.. He's just like you."

Sasuke jerked his head to the side. "What? Don't _ever _compare me to Hyuuga again!" he sneered.

"Jeez, I didn't mean it like that, you bastard.." Naruto sighed, lifting his hands up in defeat, before yelping as someone collided with him, spilling sake all over the front of his kimono.

"Damn!" he swore, looking up to see who had walked up against him. An unknown woman in her mid-thirties looked down on him. "Damn brat," she sneered, her face full of loathing and hate. "serves you right, demon!" she spit out, before walking away. Naruto's brows creased at her words, before he started worrying about the kimono again. "Damnit," he cursed again before looking to Sasuke. "How the hell should I get this off?" he asked desperately, but the Uchiha didn't answer. "Didn't youi hear that?" he asked, his eyebrows creased together as he was pondering.

"What?"

"She called you demon,"

"Yeah, so? I'm used to it, and besides, that's not the important thing right now," he said calmly, watching as Sasuke's expression changed.

"I wouldn't take that if I were you," he said defensively.

"I already said, I'm used to it. And who am I to not take it? If I were to yell at her, or hit her, wouldn't people have all the more the reason to call me a monster as they do now?"

"But you're not the monster, I mean - Not literally," Sasuke retorted.

"Let them believe what they want to believe," he said, shrugging while thinking of a way to get the rice wine off his kimono.

Sasuke believed he had just seen a whole other side of Naruto.

--

After Naruto had cleaned up his clothes, they went back to the square, seating themselves on the ground next to the few classmates around the bonfire. Sasuke's eyes immediately met his cousin's, and smirked. The white-eyed jounin smiled smugly, and said: "Nice hair, Uchiha." At which Sasuke retorted: "Nice yukata, Hyuuga," before menacingly smiling and mentioning to the lilac kimono Neji was wearing.

"Guys, guys.. come on.." Naruto interrupted, trying to keep the two men from fighting each other the and there. "This is supposed to be a fun event.. Plese don't spoil it by being childish, okay?"

The group chattered for a while, waiting for a few people to complete the group. Meanwhile, their senseis came walking by, greeting them and starting a conversation. Their former teacher, Iruka, was wearing a plain golden, yellowish yukata without decorations, complementing his brown skin. Their other sensei was wearing a grey kimono, with red decorations and of course, still his mask on. The two men decided they'd rather stay with the group of friends than go back to the crowd of senior jounin, so they took a seat and waited for the people yet to arrive.

--

"Ne, Naruto, can I talk to you for a moment?" Sakura asked kindly, curving her eyes upward in a gentle smile.

"Of course, Sakura-chan! I'll be right back, k?" the kimono-clad boy replied, partially to Sakura, partially to Sasuke and the rest.

They walked off to a less crowded part of the huge square all the festivities were being held on. They came to a halt, the noise coming from everyone just a faint murmur.

A silence fell. Just when Naruto was about to ask what Sakura had called him for, her facial expression turned into slightly sad, and she lowered her head before asking:

"You love him, don't you?"

"Sakura-chan, how did you- what-?" the blond boy was startled, to say the least. He was at a loss of words, too.

"Naruto.. I can see it. I'm not being called smart for nothing, you know."

"..I'm sorry."

_Slap._

"Don't you _dare!"_

"Sakura, I-"

"Don't you _dare_ feel sorry. You can't- you just can't feel sorry for loving someone, right?" she asked, voice sounding angry at first, then taking a more gentle tone.

"..Thank you. But.. don't you.. like him anymore, then?" Naruto asked tentatively.

"I-.. No." '_I love him.'_

When she saw the bright eyes of her friend lit up, she was beginning to feel even sadder. '_I still love him.. Yet I know Sasuke will never return that to me..' _she thought, before she decided she wouldn't tell Naruto Sasuke probably felt the same, and she would let Naruto figure it out himself.

----

With Shikamaru and Ino arriving, the group became complete, and they decided they should fire the fireworks now. It was already past midnight, and the atmosphere was at its best.

"Where have _you_ been, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked, suggestively winking before continuing.

"Or should I ask, 'Where has the _dream team_ been?'"

Shikamaru raised his eyebrow and took a seat. "I'd rather be a dream team than a dream _couple_," he said in a monotone voice, and it took Naruto several minutes to register. "Shikamaruuuuu!"

--

A few hours, and several cups of sake later, most of the 'ooohs' and 'aaahs' regarding the fireworks had passed and a few people were starting to leave.

"Sakura-san!" Lee asked, and bowed down on one knee. "May I ask you if you would want to take a walk with me?" he asked, totally being Lord Clueless and exaggerating everything without noticing. "I know I'm just a humble man, and-"

Sakura smiled and blushed, before telling him he shouldn't honour her like that. They went off for a walk into the woods, and Naruto smiled to himself. 'so she really is over Sasuke..' he thought, not noticing how wrong he might be.

He took another cup of sake, causing Sasuke to wonder how many the blond had had already. And how many he himself had had already..

After hearing Naruto state he wanted to do karaoke, he concluded the blond was drunk, and exactly told him that.

"Naruto. You're drunk." He said, his voice slightly slurring at the edges.

"Who cares? So are you.."

"Well, at least I can still think properly, you idiot."

"Oi! I can still think properly, too.. Alcohol doesn't change anything in your mind, it only.. only.. brings out the thing you want the most.." Naruto said, his voice losing volume.

"And all I want right now.." Naruto leaned in, his voice reduced to a husky whisper.

"is.."

But before he could finish his sentence, their lips were pressed together softly, Naruto tingling inside from the warmth and softness of the other's mouth. He leaned in closer and grabbed the collar of Sasuke's yukata, pulling him in closer. The blond breathed out softly and began to move their lips together, but before he had the chance to deepen the kiss properly, they were interrupted by a subtle cough.

"Hyuuga..." Sasuke swore, looking ready to kill the smug brunette this instant. He raised himself and gave Neji a glare that could rival Mr. Heero Yuy's and stalked away before someone had the chance to say anything, leaving them speechless to what they had just seen. Because yes, they _had _seen.

**A/N: I hope you liked. If you've come this far, thanks for bearing with me, and please review. Ja ne!**


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